Building a blog, letter by letter

The Saturday Papers

I have a ritual of reading the print version of The Age everyday. I read or skim the main section first thing in the morning, before I leave the house. I like to know what’s going on in the world, or at least, I like to be informed about the world’s current situation.

I read The Age because we get it delivered, so its convenient. On Wednesdays and Saturdays, we also buy The Australian because Dad likes the Higher Education lift outs and such. To be honest, I don’t pay much attention to The Australian, but I think that’s habitual more than anything.

Saturday mornings are my big News times. I pull apart the newspapers and gather together a little (or big) collection of sections of interest. This selection has diversified as I’ve grown up. Initially, I flipped to the back of the main section to check the television guide, and maybe the weather. Stage two saw me reading the eg and the A2, now titled Life & Style. I wanted music and movies. That was pretty much it. I took an interest in the weekend magazines as they became glossier and put pictures of pretty ladies on the front, a marketing technique so common but oh, so enthralling.

The mighty Tigers had me opening the Sport each weekend, as I tracked the dismal play of my favourite football team. When I became a club member, I read more. When I cancelled my membership, my dedication to the section almost vanished. Funny thing though, they Tigers are roaring again but my interest in the game is still pretty hazy.

The travel section was the next to jump on board. Holidays have that global appeal (no pun intended). To see the world is on so many’s bucket list and with good reason. The two trips I’ve taken overseas were two of the best experiences I’ve had in my life, thus far. I like the letters from fellow readers expressing their travel wows and woes. Anything on Italy, I read. New York would come a close second.

The main broadsheet section of The Age became a part of my daily routine around the time when I actually needed to know stuff, for school, and to feel like I was a legitimate part of society. Gradually, my reading of this section has increased from just a casual skim to something more substantial. I’d say it takes me approximately half an hour to get through the daily news. But 30 minutes is only 30 minutes. One can hardly grasp the world in just 30 times 60 seconds.

I glance at the Education on a Monday, the Epicure on a Tuesday, the Green Guide on a Thursday, and as I mentioned earlier, the eg on a Friday. I check out My Career to see what opportunities may lie ahead. Last year, I started to flip through the Drive section. It seemed like a logical progression as I began to drive myself, and naturally, I wanted a car. The scanning did result in an amazing gift from a close family member, of which I am eternally grateful for. If you’re reading this, Nonna, the koala is still watching out for me.

I never thought it would happen, but in the past few months, I’ve even turned a few pages of BusinessDay. Yes, the business section. I couldn’t and didn’t see it coming, but choosing a Politics, Economics, Business subject to compliment my communications degree, I’ve actually started to understand and make some sense of what that world is all about. If you’d have asked me a year or even six months ago whether I’d choose this subject, I know I’d have had to try hard not to laugh in your face. But its not all numbers and figures. Societies communicate through these systems with consequences that can affect whole nations, or as in the case of the Global Financial Crisis, the world.

Six weeks ago, I knew nothing about the GFC, had no interest in learning about how or why it occurred, and was not looking forward to it coming up in my course. But, I’ve learnt so much in such a short time and am proud to say that researching the sets of actions that contributed to the crash of the 2008 U.S. housing bubble, could not have been more intriguing.

So that’s my daily paper round up. Once that’s done, I start all over again with my online program, the one I wrote about yesterday.

I’m so lucky I like my university course. Too many friends and acquaintances have been disappointed in something they were positive was right for them. For once, my indecisiveness steered me in the right direction. And I’m grateful for that, too.

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Hey there, once again, counting letters. This is SO interesting. I think I could easily become an avid reader of your blogs, and even one of your biggest fans! Maybe you can explain more about the GFC to me one day-it still baffles me.